Your Huge Dose of News

Today I’m going to give you a down and dirty quick recap of the week’s top social media and influencer marketing news. So you no longer have to apply to 20 different newsletters and follow multiple Twitter streams. Today you can get all your new stories in one area. I’m giving you the big ones that you should absolutely know about so that you could be the most knowledgeable person in the room.

I also emphasize that you should follow us on Twitter which is @iamwiim because I will be sharing the articles in their entirety so that you can read them. You can also subscribe to our newsletter at www.iamwiim.com/newsletter. We also share these news stories in our Tuesday weekly newsletter.

Let’s get into it.

So the first article, YouTube Previews Five New Upcoming Live Streaming Features Borrowing from TikTok, Twitch and Instagram and a Whole Lot of Other People. It says “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. So basically, TikTok, Twitch and Instagram are all providing some stiff competition for YouTube on the live video front. But YouTube clearly plans to stay in the game. And those plans involve new features that are heavily influenced by its competitors. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right. So in a video that is linked in an article that’s posted to YouTube’s official creator insider channel, YouTube showcased five brand-new features.

Here they are, “Go Live Together”, very reminiscent of Instagram, “Live Rings”, “Cross Channel Live Redirects”, “Full Screen Mode”, and a “Live Q&A”. Specifically, these are related to live streams that are coming to the platform. And yes, these may seem very familiar, but they weren’t available on YouTube. And there are just some people who are natively on YouTube and are really excited to see these features. The one that I was a little bit confused by was the redirect one.

“Cross Channel Live Redirects” says talking about Twitch. It’s like an homage to twitch a little bit. So one of the best ways to promote your Twitch channel is by sharing your viewers with another streamer after live stream is over on Twitch. This is called a Raid. That’s why I’m unfamiliar with us not on Twitch really. So YouTube is going with a slightly less catchy name for its own version of this very feature. It’s called “Cross Channel Live Redirects”. If a creator has at least 1000 subscribers, and no active community guidelines strikes, they’ll be able to redirect their viewers to another channels live stream or a premiere video. And if you don’t know premiere video is an uploaded YouTube video that airs with a live chat for its first scheduled public viewing. And then it’s visible and you know, viewable as any other uploaded video on a platform. So YouTubers can already send viewers to other live streams or videos on their own channel. This new feature will allow them to send viewers to other channels as well. That is interesting. Okay, so the name not great hope they change it, Raid as much better that Twitch uses but pretty interesting. So I’m thinking in terms of influencer marketing, you hire a bunch of influencers and they all go live simultaneously and why after one is through, then everybody sends you from the first one to the second one, the second to the third. There’s a lot of use cases here. So that is pretty interesting.

I’m so excited about this next article from Mashable. Apple podcasts is finally rolling out follower analytics to podcasters. Apple is finally going to provide some crucial data about your show. This is literally the first they’ve done this. It says according to Variety, Apple podcast will be rolling out follower analytics to show creators starting next month, and this article was released on March 23, 2022. If readers will recall Apple change the term “Subscriber” wants to use to describe people who followed your free podcast to “Follower” when it launched paid podcast subscriptions last year in 2021. Apple is about to provide podcasters with metrics concerning how many people overall are subscribed to their non paid public podcasts for the very first time. Podcasters will be able to log into their Apple Podcasts Connect account us to set up podcast distribution and track their follower data from their shows under their Analytics tab. After selecting which of their podcast shows to analyze, creators can view the number of new followers over a time span of a week, month, 60 days and all time. As a variety points out podcasters will also be able to track the amount of time followers and non followers listen to a shows episode. This is like all on YouTube. And it’s incredible that we’ve gone for so long without having any of this and this is going to be huge for podcasters if you work with any. So Podcast Episode Analytics have been available to podcasters via Apple Connect for some time. While that can help creators get a rough estimate of their fan base. Not every podcast follower is going to listen to every episode. And of course non followers listen to podcast as they compress too. So this upcoming update is certainly going to be welcomed by podcasters Alright, so there’s a lot more about that but I definitely wanted to give you that news.

A lot of people lately have been saying how they’re working more and more with podcasters it’s such a great medium to work with influencers. You can find great people with huge selling abilities and really authentic, very engaged followers who listen week after week to their podcasts. This is a huge update. So I definitely wanted to share that with you guys.

The next article is “Instagram launches Algorithm Free Feed Sorting Options for all users”. It says “You Asked For It and Now It’s Here”. After Instagram announced the upcoming option back in December as part of Adam Missouri’s appearance before the US Senate over concerns about how Instagram is harmful for youngsters. Instagram has now launched officially its “Algorithm Free Chronological Feed Option” to all users. So there’s a screenshot here that essentially you select whether it’s following, or favorites.

And here’s what that mean. Favorites, this displays the latest posts from accounts that you’ve added to your Favorites list, you can add up to 50 as favorites, helping to prioritize updates from these users, and then there’s a Following. “Following”, this shows you posts from all the accounts that you follow in the app, just per the regular Instagram feed. It’s called “Following”. But importantly, both the new Favorites and Following feeds will show you posts in chronological order as they are posted. No more algorithm interference. It’s the Instagram that you remember from the past with everything back in its right place. At the time of the initial announcement, the problem with Instagram Reverse Chronological Feed Options is you can’t set either as a default. So you’ll need to manually select the feed display you prefer every time you log into the app, which realistically, not many people are are not gonna do. Instagram has been able to boost user engagement via its algorithm defined feed will also be hoping that people realize that the Algorithm Feed is actually better and that they see more of the content they care most about by trusting the system. There is a lot more in this article that I will have you guys read on your own. But it’s big news, but there’s definitely that huge catch that I wanted to mention. So yes, it is big news, things are changing. Influencers may get different amounts of views on their pages. And brands might be less or more visible to people depending on the settings. But there is no default to this. Somebody has to actively go in and like change their settings. That is very unlikely to happen. We all know that. Right? Okay. So you should know that and and speak about that with people and get their opinions as well.

All right, the next article “YouTube will now enable users to watch 1000s of TV shows for free in the app”.

The first line in this article “Could this be the final nail in the coffin for traditional TV?” I have to share personally about a month ago, I finally made the switch. I cancelled my TV service. And I’m totally one of the last people to do this. People are definitely not watching traditional TV anymore. So if you guys are simultaneously working in advertising and doing traditional TV spots. This is very big news. So this week, YouTube has launched a new slate of TV shows in the app that users will able to watch for free with ads as it makes another advance into commercial TV category. This is a quote from them “YouTube is at the forefront of the consumer shift to see TV viewership as the top ad supported streaming platform with the content people enjoy and the creators they love”. And now US viewers for the very first time will be able to watch full seasons of TV shows on YouTube for free with ads. You can now stream nearly 4000 episodes of your favorite TV shows including Hell’s Kitchen and Heartland and more. 4000 episodes is a lot. While you YouTube also says that over 1500 movies from Disney Warner Brothers Paramount and more also available on the App. YouTube has, of course offer TV shows and movies on demand for some time. But now users will be able to tune into a huge range of content at any time for free, so long as they put up with a few ads in relevant gaps. Even then, there are likely to be fewer ads than on traditional TV. And with so many options on offer, you could imagine that this will be a very popular offering. According to YouTube, there are already like millions of things that they can be watching. This of course, just ads, specifically TV, and what there is to offer. It’s pretty big news and good to know about and even more people now theoretically will be off to YouTube land to watch and consume content there. So another reason to dive further into YouTube.

The last article is “Instagram will enable all users to tag products in feed post”. This article was published on March 22, 2022. As part of its continued focus on expanding its E-commerce listings, Instagram will now allow all users to tag products and their Instagram posts starting with users in the US. This was rolled out to certain influencers at least two or three years ago. This is not new, but they’re allowing all users to do this that is huge. Originally only available to approved creators, Instagram is now giving everyone the capacity to provide a direct link to products and brands in their uploads. This is a quote from Instagram, “Scored a new pair of earrings from a small business you love tagged the product in your feed posts, so your friends and followers can learn more about the earrings and shop them”. People come to Instagram to share and discover trends and inspiration. Product tagging will make it possible for anyone to support their favorite small business share how they styled their looks along with the products they used, and more. That can provide a big boost for brands and the app for free will also building upon Instagram E-commerce focus and evolving consumer behaviors within the app. For users that will likely see a big expansion on product tags, and as more people become accustomed to tagging the products that they love, they will lean further into the product discovery mindset that Instagram really wants to encourage in order to facilitate more transactions. Users with business or creator accounts can also tag products in stories and reels. Business owners will receive a little notification when someone tags one of their products while they’ll also be able to view all tagged content on their profile. At the same time, product tags can also be used in a negative way. And on that front brands will also be able to control who can tag their products, while they’ll be able to remove tags of their items and brand if they choose. There’s all sorts of use cases from small to large businesses and brands that you work with, whether you’re an influencer or hiring influencers to tag your brands that that could totally be something that should be included in contracts, right? Where you’re gonna tag this product or tag that product or tag your favorite product amongst this list of things that should be contractually required for any influencer partnerships. That should be rolling out again only to US users. And soon it’s not completely released yet but worth checking with the influencers that you’re working with to see if they have the tool yet. Any sort of new tool especially that Instagram rolls out as new, they are absolutely going to be prioritizing those posts. That gives you a bump in the algorithm. So if I had that tool rolled out to me and I included it in an upcoming post today, I would get way more engagement on that post than I would not using it. If you have influencers that you’re working with whoever have new tools, I feel that should be a question included in a brief or a contract. Like, please let us know which new features of certain platforms have you gotten recently? And if the answer is fill in the blank, like we are contractually obligating you to utilize it, because it will always give you a bump in viewership.

I hope this was beneficial and helpful. Thank you guys so much. If you guys are interested in joining WIIM go to iamwiim.com. Check that out. Of course, you’ll learn all about us and like we’re networking organization with community and education and resources, but you could always check out our website. It’s iamwiim.com. Alright, guys, have a lovely rest of your day.